Tina Maze Wins Opening Slalom Race; Mikaela Shiffrin Is 11th

Tina Maze of Slovenia won the women’s World Cup slalom season opener Saturday with an overall time of 1 minute 55.15 seconds.

The defending world champion Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States finished 11th and said she had “lessons to learn.”

Maze, who was fastest in the first run, in 58.12 seconds, beat Frida Hansdotter of Sweden by 0.34 after a second run in light snow in Levi, Finland, the world’s northernmost World Cup site, about 80 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Austria’s Kathrin Zettel had the day’s fastest time of 56.7 to finish third, ahead of Sweden’s Maria Pietilae-Holmner.

Shiffrin, 14th after the first run, improved slightly in the second to finish 11th over all. Shiffrin had times of 59.83 and 57.39 for a 1:57.22 total, more than two seconds behind Maze.

Maze was not certain she would win.

“I had made so many mistakes, not big mistakes, but I didn’t know where I would end up,” Maze said.

Shiffrin, 19, leads the World Cup overall standings with 124 points, ahead of Zettel with 110. Maze is third with 109.

“It’s easy to win when you’re winning,” Shiffrin said. “I still need to learn how to come back in the second run if I have a slower first run. I still need to learn how to race like a champion. I wasn’t able to do that today.”

Levi, known as one of the toughest slalom slopes on the circuit, had a hard, gritty base after days of cold temperatures.

“The base is not icy, but it’s quite aggressive, making it hard to let your skis go,” Hansdotter said.

JAPANESE WINS GRAND PRIX MEDAL Rika Hongo of Japan hit every jump she aimed for to win the gold medal at the Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, her first medal in the Grand Prix series.

Her free skate to music from the opera “Carmen” featured seven triples, including an opening flip-toe loop combination.

As she is 18 and in her first year in seniors competition, her performance could raise expectations that she will be the next star in Japan’s long line of standout skaters.

Anna Pogorilaya of Russia took the silver medal despite a troubled program in which her hand touched the ice on three jumps.

Canada’s Alaine Chartrand, who was in first place after the short program, dropped to the bronze medal with a free skate in which she underrotated several jumps.

In the men’s competition, Javier Fernández of Spain won his second Grand Prix gold medal. Sergei Voronov of Russia was second, and Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic finished third.

In pairs, Russians swept the podium. Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov won with a compelling and taxing free skate, followed by Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov and the twosome of Kristina Astakhova and Alexei Rogonov.

The Americans Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier earned the second-highest free program marks but ended just 0.01 of a point short of a medal.